…Because it’s time to talk about “The Crow.”
…Ok maybe not THAT CROW, but feel free to apply gothy make-up and bemoan that lack of new Riot Grrl comp CDs anyways.
Crow, Bakasana, is an elegant, albeit somewhat challenging, pose for beginner/intermediate Yogis. Yes, it requires arm strength, balance and proper form, but it is really a pose all about trust. If one wishes to be super granola fru-fru about it, this posture really highlights our own issues about trusting ourselves. I find when many people say they can’t do Crow, they already have all the necessary skills and are actually experiencing a mental block.
Why is it so freaking scary? Much like high school, one wrong move and you’re gonna eat dirt. (If…your high school had…dirt floors? This worked much better in my head. Hmm.)
Anyways, if one leans too far forward in Crow, it is possible to pull off a quick “stutter step” but it can hurt. And falling onto your forehead is quite difficult to do in a graceful manner. I’ve tried. Anyways, I noticed something interesting in class last week. I was really craving a good arm balance and I went right into it and held it more effortlessly than I ever had before. Later at home, because I was surprised at my previous performance, my mind was focus on how I had done it so gracefully without falling once.
I had planted the evil demon seed word in my head, “falling.” I tried to replicate my earlier success and was as stable as a Jenga tower constructed by a drunk senior citizen. (Hi, Mom!) Each subsequent attempt I became more focused on not falling; the harder I tried the more it happened.
When you eliminate fear and enter into Crow, it allows you to focus on keeping your core structurally organized.The relaxed ego can zone in on a spot on the floor or wall which always aids in balance. A quiet head enables strong, yet paradoxically, tension-free arms that are able to precisely move to accomodate the subtle shifts in body weight. And most importantly, all yoga Asana is meant to be executed with a liberated mind. Donna Holleman always preaches that a pose executed with anatomical perfection but with a busy mind is not the true pose at all. I think this is an incredible valid point, as poses are tools for the journey that is life, not the end goal themselves.
So if Crow has plagued your home or studio practice, take a few breaths to center yourself. Pull inward both physically and mentally. Consider for a moment that this is similar to those team building exercises where a person falls backwards and counts on their friends to catch them…the only difference is that you will be testing your faith in yourself.
In a culture that bombards us with images that whisper “you’re not young enough, skinny enough, white enough, smart enough, sexy enough, straight enough, man/woman enough” in order to sell us more shit we don’t need, we have a lot to learn from the humble Crow pose. Maybe we can all learn to trust ourselves a little more and spend less time worrying about falling face first. If the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, Crow can teach us all to fly a little higher.
*Ok I need to shower as this is my most hippie-ish post ever. My humblest apologies.
